China Is Ready To ‘Inflict Real Pain On The U.S.’ In Retaliation For Trump’s Trade War, Experts Warn

China is preparing to inflict real pain on the United States — at the expense of its own economy — in retaliation for trade wars enacted by Donald Trump, geopolitical experts are warning.

The Chinese government has become increasingly sharp in its rhetoric over the series of tariffs that Trump has instituted against China, with its Ministry of Commerce calling out the “wrong actions” by the United States and saying that trade negotiations will not start until the tariffs are reversed, NBC News reported. The position being staked out by China leaves little room for compromise, noted Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics.

“The message from China’s state media over the past week has been belligerent and uncompromising, with reminders for viewers of glorious moments when China and the Communist Party stood up to aggressors,” Williams said. “It sounds like the leadership is preparing for a drawn-out fight.”

The Trump administration has taken some deliberate actions to hurt Chinese economic interests, including what was described as a “crippling strike” against tech giant Huawei that blocked the company’s access to American technology. As a result, Huawei devices no longer have access to Google technology and apps, leading the Chinese government to accuse America of trying to “colonize global business.”

Experts believe that the situation could grow worse as China retaliates with tariffs of its own at little regard to Chinese interests, as the country has shown willingness to endure damaging effects to its own economy in order to hurt the United States.

“With regard to the prospects of additional escalation, there’s a great deal of pain yet to be inflicted. We don’t want to go there,” said Doug Barry, spokesman for the U.S.-China Business Council. “We’re talking about a couple of trillion dollars of economic activity and a couple of million U.S. jobs’ worth of potential hurt.”

The tariffs against China have also created complications at home for Donald Trump. He recently announced $16 billion in aid for American farmers and ranchers hurt by the trade war with China and claimed that the United States would be taking in “hundreds of billions of dollars” in tariffs and charges. But as CBS News noted, this common refrain from Trump is not correct. China does not pay the tariffs levied by his administration, the fact check noted, but instead, American companies — like Ford and Walmart — end up paying more and then passing those costs on to American consumers.